Scream

Nina

Nina woke in the morning feeling tired. She didn’t understand it, she was going to bed at night by 9pm and she didn’t wake during the night, why was she always so tired.

Opening her eyes she immediately saw that one half of the curtains was open. She closed her eyes in frustration. She knew for a fact that she had closed that before going to sleep the night before. She had never heard of curtains being able to slide open on their own, but figured that doors could swing, and hers did so it must be possible.

She opened her eyes again and threw her blankets back as she swung her legs round and sat up facing the window. She let out a heavy sigh as she rose to her feet slowly and walked over to the window making sure to keep herself hidden by the one curtain that remained closed.

She didn’t sleep naked or anything, she wore a t-shirt and shorts set that covered everything quite easily, but she didn’t want the man she suspected was looking in her window to see her at all, not even fully clothed. The idea of him watching her was creepy to say the least. Leaning her head round the edge of the curtain she looked at the windows across from hers. The curtains were closed. She instantly felt better. If his curtains were closed he couldn’t see her, right? She stepped out to reach for the open one to pull closed as a thought hit her.

“What if he is hiding behind them the way I was?”

She grabbed the fabric and ripped it across the open glass while at the same time dropping to her knees and ducking below the window sill.

Breathing hard she stayed there for a few minutes with her eyes closed waiting for her heart rate to return to normal. Still with her eyes closed she turned to lean her back against the wall and let her legs stretch out into the room.

“I’m letting my imagination run away with me,” she told herself quietly.

But her mind threw up other things for her to think on. How things seemed to move round on her small desk or the top of her set of draws. She had dismissed these before thinking she had probably not put them back where she thought she had. It wasn’t a big deal, not like she was OCD or anything. But her pills, she did seem to be going through them faster than she should.

Could she be sleep walking?

Now that would answer a good many questions, none the least of which was why she was always waking up tired. Maybe she moved things around in her sleep, opened her curtain even. Did she subconsciously like the idea of the man across the way seeing her? Was she taking the extra medication in her sleep, could that harm her, harm her heart?

She decided she would call her doctor ask him if sleep walking was a side effect or if she could over dose by taking the extra medication.

Giving herself an encouraging smile at having made a plan she finally opened her eyes.

Across from her on the blank white wall, written in what looked like blood, were the words

“I can still see you!”

The quiet of the morning was shattered by her blood curdling scream.